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An effective stick strike that is easy to execute

In this tutorial we talk about a staff technique that is one of the most:

Simple to execute
Useful to implement
Effective to apply
Typical of 6 Dragons Kung Fu
…

What happens in combat when using a staff?

The technique we are going to see replies to 2 specific need that any 6 Dragons Kung Fu’s practitioner who has ever sparred with staff knows (read The meaning of sparring fighting in martial arts):

The short distance management (read Ideal distance from the opponent during a fight)
The fact that the stick grip changes continuously (read The basics of the long stick: safety and grip)

A note by Master Kongling – In any scenario where there is a stick involved, it is in continuous movement and this can create unpredictable situations that can be difficult to manage (it is for this reason that we teach our students to develop a personal combat instinct).

One of the most simple but useful short distance strikes

In combat, we can arrive in unexpected positions where we are not able to fight as we want and the one we are going to analyze is one of them.

It is not rare to remain:

In front of our opponent
At a short distance
With the staff in a vertical position
…

How could we attack an opponent that is so near us?

We simply have to exploit the lever principle:

The center of the lever (the fulcrum) is near the middle of the stick
The movement sees its upper part going forward and the lower backward
As if there is something that forces the stick to rotate with its center as a fixed point

How to execute the technique

The strike:

We have a long weapon in a vertical position
We are holding our stick with one hand
The opponent is in front of us at a short distance
We use the upper part of the staff to promote a circular movement around its center point
The inertia of the lower part helps us to add power to our blow
In addition to this, we add the gravity power
We do not move our arm forward but from top to bottom

Execution details

Normally, from a position like this, it is not simple to attack without loadings or trying to gain space of action but with the tip, we create a motion that is similar to a punch.

Let’s see a few details:

The most important thing to focus on is to do not go forward, because the vibration would damage the quality of our blow
We go with the idea of moving the tip forward and downward while the lower part goes backward and upward
Our arm does not load the blow, it goes directly downward and toward the target

The most important variants of this strike

The first

The same technique can also be executed with the staff touching the ground and it is:

More simple (especially for a beginner)
More powerful (due to the perfect stabilization)

The only differences are that, this way:

The fulcrum of the lever is not in the middle of the staff but on the ground
When the staff is attached to the ground, we have to press downward, to search a good rooting

The second

During the move, our hand can also slide down to reach a better point of balance.

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu Exercises – The exercises to develop a reactive body functional to the combat

In-depth articles

Learning the use of real weapons – The full weapon path of 6 Dragons Kung Fu
The basics of short sticks: safety and grip – The most common rigid weapon and its basics

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

What is the biggest difference, in your opinion, between a sword and a staff?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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